The better blogs I've looked at try to be less profound, they say less. Some are also less accurate when it comes to recycling facts.
Easier and nicer to read, in other words.
Some say recycling is all hype, that the free market should drive it. That is correct, a "free" market would drive it. It is virtually impossible to throw away a cardboard box in a country which does not have government or institutional subsidies on virgin product. This has commonly been attributed to low wages, but that is a false indicator - the wages are also low at mines and forests in those countries, yet they recover recyclables at a higher rate. It has been blamed on poor solid waste management collection, and its true that the longer waste is exposed the less recyclables are in it, but even in Hong Kong and Signapore (which have excellent trash collection, high wages, and extremely high real estate prices) you will find the trash trucks sorting, or people pre-sorting the trash for a second truck.
Part of the problem is Bureau of Land Management subsidies, which I've covered before... Senators from unpopulated states go for the Interior Dept. committee and act to maintain those subsidies (why would a senator from NY or MA or CA go for Interior, when Health or Finance or Foreign Affairs committees are more prestigious?).
Another weakness in free market itself is that the unborn (future generations) do not get to invest in stock. This puts a limit on appreciation of natural resources - an investment must pay off in the lifetime of the average investor. A 25 or 50 year ROI is considered "long term", meaning a project to liquidate the Amazon or all known petroleum reserves in 50 years would be a very long term economic view.
The recyclers are not led by people that don't understand business and the economy. We are led by people with a longer-term view.
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